Harding convicted holy spirit.pdf 2 (1)

Author: Susan F. Harding
- Teaches anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
- Produced influential essays exploring fundamentalism and conversion.
Focus of the article: The rhetoric behind Baptist fundamentalist conversion.

Thesis: Modernity does not inherently correlate with secularization.
Contradictions observed with the resurgence of religion at the end of the 20th century.
Harding's approach: Shifts focus from causality to the experience and language of conversion itself.
Important aspects to consider:
- Language and rhetoric in religious transformation.
- Conversion as a learned new mode of speech.
- Experience of religious conversion especially in evangelical contexts.

Harding's focus contrasts Rappaport's examination of illocutionary acts in religious discourse.
Addressing the perlocutionary force (persuasion) of religious language.
Her work should be related to:
- Clifford Geertz's insights on ideology.
- Bloch's view on the argumentative nature of religious speech.

Shift in fundamentalist engagement with the secular world.
- Example: Reverend Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority promoting political activism.
Fundamentalists breaking historical separations from mainstream culture.
The rhetoric of conversion characterized by strategies:
- Stripping individuals of cultural assumptions.
- Reorganizing existential interpretation and experience.

Witnessing involves:
- Testifying about personal experiences.
- A dialogue that seeks to convict and convert listeners.
Witnessing is both a monologue (the speaker's experience) and a dialogue (reconstitutes listeners).
Key phrases in witnessing include:
- "Conviction" and "being saved" in evangelical language.

Conversion process described as:
- A transformation from being lost to being saved.
- This often accompanies a personal crisis or realization of need for salvation.
- Conversion signifies moral rectification and a closer relationship with God.

Cantrell's conversion narrative serves as a template.
- Illustrates the journey from lost to saved through personal storytelling.
His witnessing approach includes:
- Use of narrative structure inviting listeners into his story.
- Dialogical encounter where listener's engagement is actively sought.

Witnessing as a form of ritual with defined roles:
- The witness (speaker) aims to create spiritual crises in listeners.
- Focus on the gospel and converting one's will.
Cantrell employs various rhetorical techniques,
- Engaging through emotional storytelling and shared experiences.

The transformational aspect of witnessing relies on powerful rhetoric.
Vocabulary of fundamentalism aims to evoke specific inner dialogues.
- Phrases that create a sense of urgency or deepened understanding of personal sinfulness.
The language of witnessing operates not just as communication but as a medium of religious experience.

Explores the gray area between belief and disbelief, particularly for an ethnographer.
The act of encountering fundamentalist narratives facilitates unintentional shifts in perception and belief.
Observations reveal the transformative power of dialogue, pushing boundaries between observer and performer in religious contexts.

Conversion viewed as a complex interplay of language, personal narrative, and communal dynamics.
Fundamentalist witnessing combines personal testimony with the strategic use of rhetoric to foster belief.
The significance of language in conversion lies in its power to reshape identity and relational structures within an individual's experience of faith.